Houston Texans vs. Tennessee Titans: Full Report Card Grades for Tennessee
Another week, another Tennessee Titans loss. This week's edition comes courtesy of their division rivals, the Houston Texans.
Despite making a change at quarterback and giving Zach Mettenberger his first career NFL start, the Titans suffered from a lot of the same problems they'd been having under Charlie Whitehurst.
Third downs were a struggle, as was sustaining drives, and the defense once again had trouble stopping the run, as Arian Foster had 151 yards on the ground.
In the end, the Texans were too much for the Titans and defeated them 30-16.
Here are report card-style grades for each unit from the game.
Quarterback
1 of 9
Starting Zach Mettenberger was a mistake. Mettenberger didn't look like he was prepared to play quarterback in the NFL.
Mettenberger's numbers don't look that bad, but the final numbers are a little misleading, as a big chunk of his yards came in garbage time.
Mettenberger did throw two touchdowns and had great pocket awareness, and he showed an ability to throw the ball deep, but he was also responsible for two turnovers.
His biggest problems were checkdowns and accuracy. More often than not, on 3rd-and-long, he bit and threw to open receivers well short of the first down. This is something Whitehurst does, and it's not a good habit to have.
Then there was accuracy. Mettenberger threw behind his receivers more than once, and even though there was a lot of slipping and falling, I don't think it really affected Mettenberger in any meaningful way.
Grade: C-
Running Back
2 of 9
Once again, Bishop Sankey had a good game, and once again, it doesn't matter. He did get stifled a bit on a few runs, but for the most part, Sankey was making good gains. He got hit behind the line of scrimmage quite a bit.
In the end, though, it only got him 35 yards because the Titans had to pass the ball playing from behind. Sankey did contribute to the passing game as well, with four catches for 25 yards.
Shonn Greene returned to the lineup to carry the ball once for one yard, and Dexter McCluster had a couple of carries.
McCluster and Leon Washington had some passes thrown their way as well. They finished with 39 and 40 receiving yards, respectively.
Grade: B-
Receiver and Tight End
3 of 9
Nate Washington came back with a vengeance against the Texans. Washington led receivers in yards with 68, and he also made one of the toughest catches of the game for a whopping 43 yards.
Kendall Wright was next in yardage after Washington with 53 yards on three catches. Justin Hunter and Delanie Walker each had a touchdown and were the most targeted receivers. Unfortunately, Mettenberger was unable to get the ball to them consistently.
The Titans receivers more or less worked with what they had. There were a lot of bad throws, too, but other than Washington's monster catch, it's hard to recall any receiver making a catch from one of the bad throws.
There was an awful lot of slipping and falling as well. Hunter and Wright each slipped at least once.
Grade: B-
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Offensive Line
4 of 9
I have to give credit where credit is due. The Titans offensive line actually did a very good job of keeping Jadeveon Clowney and J.J. Watt off of Mettenberger.
In fact, there were only two sacks by the Texans in the game, both from Watt.
That said, the Titans O-line also continued to have a problem with penalties. It is currently the most penalized offensive line in the league, and it was responsible for three of Tennessee's penalties against Houston.
Three isn't a lot, but most of them were early in drives, which backed the Titans up and limited their options. That has been a problem all season, and it's one of the reasons that the Titans can't use their running backs as much as they'd like to.
Grade: C
Defensive Line
5 of 9
The defensive line had a rare lackluster game against Houston. Jurrell Casey was disruptive and collapsed the pocket, but he didn't make a lot of plays.
He did have five solo tackles, just no sacks or big tackles for loss.
Ropati Pitoitua was the only defensive lineman with a sack, and he and Sammie Hill each had four tackles.
Karl Klug and Al Woods each had a couple of tackles, and Mike Martin had one, along with a hit on Ryan Fitzpatrick.
Still, not much in the way of big plays from the defensive line.
Grade: C+
Linebacker
6 of 9
The linebackers of the Titans often shoulder a lot of the responsibility for the run defense, and they had a bad day in that field. Arian Foster rushed for 151 yards, and backup Alfred Blue rushed for an additional 42.
Run defense was bad, but that aside, the linebackers were good overall. Avery Williamson had a great game, leading the team in tackles with 10 and picking up a sack, two tackles for loss and a defended pass along the way.
Wesley Woodyard also had a solid game, recording six tackles and two tackles for loss.
Kamerion Wimbley picked up a sack, but outside linebackers didn't contribute that much to the pass rush.
Grade: C-
Secondary
7 of 9
The defensive backs were probably the best overall unit of the Titans against Houston.
Blidi Wreh-Wilson started on a bad note with a pass interference penalty, but after that, he had a great game. Wreh-Wilson had seven tackles, two defended passes, a hit on Fitzpatrick and got the better end of the matchup between himself and DeAndre Hopkins.
Jason McCourty also looked solid with four tackles, two defended passes and a very near interception.
Michael Griffin led the unit in tackles, and he also had a tackle for loss and a sack. He had been playing pretty poorly in the last few games, but he was solid against Houston.
Daimion Stafford also came away with a sack, and rookie Marqueston Huff had a good game, both as a rotational corner and as a special teams player.
Grade: B+
Special Teams
8 of 9
The Titans special teams were pretty good, but mistakes still reared their head more than once in the form of penalties.
Dexter McCluster had a big punt return of 48 yards, but the offense was unable to capitalize on the excellent field position he put them in, and Tennessee had to settle for a field goal.
Beyond that big play, there wasn't much to talk about on special teams.
Ryan Succop was perfect again, though he only kicked one extra point and one field goal, and Brett Kern had another good day of punting.
Grade: B
Coaching
9 of 9
I think putting Zach Mettenberger in as a starter was a mistake. Mettenberger did not look like he was ready to start in the NFL.
Furthermore, I don't think having his first game come against a defense featuring both J.J. Watt and Jadeveon Clowney was a good way to start his NFL career.
Mettenberger's game against Houston probably doesn't tell us much about his future potential, and he clearly wasn't a big upgrade over Charlie Whitehurst, so putting him in this early was a little baffling to me.
Defensive coordinator Ray Horton made some good adjustments to keep the Texans offense down, but eventually things came apart for the defense, especially on the edges, but it's hard to fault the defense that much when the offense can't stay on the field.
Grade: C-
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